Masamune Date
Masamune Date (5 September 1567-27 June 1636) was the daimyo of the Date clan and the first leader of the Sendai Domain. Having lost an eye due to smallpox and due to his ferocity in battle, Masamune was nicknamed "the One-Eyed Dragon" (Dokugan ryu). Biography Masamune was born on 5 September 1567 to Terumune Date, and he was the grandson of Harumune Date. In 1581, the 14-year-old Masamune first led an army on campaign, fighting the Soma, and in 1584 he succeeded his father when he retired. Masamune was known to be a fierce enemy of those surrounding him, ruining the peace of northern Japan by attacking other lands (even those of his kin) in Mutsu Province and Dewa Province. The Hatakeyama invited his father to dinner, where Terumune said that he was unable to control his son, and the Hatakeyama kidnapped him. Masamune went after the Hatakeyama, and his father ordered him to kill all of the enemies as they forded a river; as Terumune was with the enemies, he would be killed. He lost his father, and he avenged him at the Battle of Hitotoribashi in 1585. In 1589, he defeated the Ashina clan and made the Aizu domain his base of operations. He then had his brother Koshiro Date killed after his mother Yoshimune Date attempted to make him the new daimyo, and he had his mother exiled to the Mogami clan. Masamune was one of the vagabonds who headed to Ueda Castle in 1587 to assist the Sanada in defending their castle from the Tokugawa, but he lost his independence in 1590 when Hideyoshi Hashiba called on all of the warlords of Japan to assist his siege of Odawara Castle. Masamune surrendered to Kanbei Kuroda there, and he fought for the Toyotomi clan in the following siegethere, leading to the restoration of peace to Japan. Either due to his ambition or recklessness, he decided to begin a rebellion in the Kasai-Osaki Uprising of 1591, gathering an army of Oshu peasants and Date retainers to begin an uprising against the Toyotomi clan. Concubine Kai and Yukimura Sanada led an army to put down the uprising, and Masamune was forced to surrender. Masamune declared his innocence, claiming that the seal on an incriminating letter was not his due to the lack of a pin in the eye of the dragon on the seal. Hideyoshi declared that he had truly earned the nickname "Dragon", and Masamune went on to fight in the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592 to 1598. After Hideyoshi's death, Masamune sided with Ieyasu Tokugawa, and he was one of the major leader of the Eastern Army (pro-Tokugawa) during the war with the Western Army (pro-Toyotomi) of Mitsunari Ishida. He led an Eastern Army force at the Battle of Hasedo in 1600, a victory for his forces that coincided with the Battle of Sekigahara further west that sealed the Tokugawa victory. In 1615, Masamune helped Ieyasu in crushing the uprising by the Toyotomi at the Siege of Osaka, and afterwards, he lived in peace in the Sendai Domain granted to him by Ieyasu. Gallery Masamune crucifix.png|Masamune carrying a crucifix after the failure of the Kasai-Osaki Uprising Masamune Hasedo.png|Masamune after the Battle of Hasedo Category:1567 births Category:1636 deaths Category:Date Category:Daimyo Category:Japanese Category:Samurai Category:Shinto Category:Tokugawa Category:Sendai Category:Toyotomi